Ronon Dex Discussion Thread (possible spoilers)

[Dr Lee]

With a mod's permission here is a place for those that don't like the character of Ronon Dex.

First off i have to say i have no shred of dislike for Jason Momoa in my body at all and i'd like to ask that people please not attack Momoa personally.

Quite simply for me Ronon is just a point and shoot weapon. tell him what to kill and it's dead.

despite a few chances to give Ronon character (Sateda and Broken Ties come to mind) he's just stayed the surly grunter that he was when he arrived on Atlantis.

personaly looking back i'd have rathered TPTB saving Ford from going off the deep end and letting him keep his funky powers (And that black contact lense) We would have still got the strong fighting weapon that Ronon has given us.

The would also have been a lot of potential for delving into how Ford would have felt not being entirely human anymore and the behaviour change the change gave him.

[KindlyKeller]

Ah... one of the great thread ideas of modern times.

Ronon.

A grunting killing machine, who has nothing else of any consequence to offer. Violent to an almost caricatural degree ("Those buttons are your friends, Chewie"), he seldom bothers to think anything through. As PB said elsewhere, he has only two modes: stoic, or overly dramatic.

As you note above, the episodes that are supposed to flesh out his character... just don't. "Sateda?" That was the pinnacle of "Ronon just grunts and kills." Hugging Carson at the very end doesn't count as development.

I personally wish they had just kept Ford and aborted the enzyme subplot entirely.

[badboyzII~86]

here we go *rolling eyes, alot actually, do you think i need it checked out*

[Dr Lee]

exactly... In the mid-season 2-parter his idea of fighting back was to shoot up the engine room....despite not being sure where the atmo console was....

[KindlyKeller]

here we go *rolling eyes, alot actually, do you think i need it checked out*

We could have Ronon shoot them for you.

[Pandora's_Box]

As you note above, the episodes that are supposed to flesh out his character... just don't. "Sateda?" That was the pinnacle of "Ronon just grunts and kills." Hugging Carson at the very end doesn't count as development.

Hellloooo, Broken Ties. Wasn't that meant to develop something or was it written purely to showcase Ronon's fierceness.

He was fierce when resisting the Wraith. He was fierce when he was under the Wraith's control. He was fierce when doing battle against that poor gurney.

The only other emotion was when Sheppard gave him the sword in the end and that lasted about 10 seconds.

I will refrain from making my comment about that being exactly how long Momoa's acting chops held out.

Oh.....wait....

I personally wish they had just kept Ford and aborted the enzyme subplot entirely.

While he certianly wasn't my favourite character ever, he was at least different from the usual token male alien character. I liked his eagerness to please. It was refreshing.

Teyla should have been left to be the alien badass.

[KindlyKeller]

Agree. They kind of stole Teyla's role from her. Almost made her obsolete. She's a much better character, though, and has more emotional range, so it's frustrating seeing her sidelined by, not only Rodney and John, who get the majority of good plots, but by Ronon, perhaps the least interesting character in Stargate's 15 combined seasons.

[Pandora's_Box]

Edit And you know what's really funny? It seems to be a gathering of R/K shippers. Could it be they're now blaming Ronon for the fact that their ship sank? Still not gonna look...

Gah! I am not!

He's just sorely underdeveloped to the point of being a caricature of what I think TPTB intended him to be. At least, IMO.

[Pandora's_Box]

Agree. They kind of stole Teyla's role from her. Almost made her obsolete. She's a much better character, though, and has more emotional range, so it's frustrating seeing her sidelined by, not only Rodney and John, who get the majority of good plots, but by Ronon, perhaps the least interesting character in Stargate's 15 combined seasons.

I'll admit it, I probably never gave him a fair shake to begin with because of that.

For some reason.... actually that's BS as I know the reason. TPTB (all male I remind you) simply can't write a strong, independent female for any real length of time and develop her properly. That's why Weir never resonated for me and why they cast Teyla aside in favour of big manly Ronon.

Big, manly men TPTB know how to deal with. They don't have to bother balancing real emotion and a conscience, with a warrior mentality.

Ronon they could just make fight and kill all the time and never dele to deep into his psyche, but with Teyla they had to and that seemed to be beyond their capabilities.

[KindlyKeller]

People have so little vision and imagination, it's sad. At least they have their own forum now and won't bother us in our happy little crowd here.
[/COLOR]

If by people you mean "the writers of the show." But not to worry. Even though this is a discussion thread and not a "pro" thread, I will keep my anti-Ronon thoughts (of which there are many logical, imaginative ones) in the other thread.

[Pandora's_Box]

If by people you mean "the writers of the show." But not to worry. Even though this is a discussion thread and not a "pro" thread, I will keep my anti-Ronon thoughts (of which there are many logical, imaginative ones) in the other thread.

:: applause ::

[KindlyKeller]

What's strange to me about it is that they do do a good job of balancing those things with Sheppard for me. Obviously different characters, and Sheppard is a sharper and more thoughtful sort, but why they can't apply some things they do right with him to Ronon is beyond me.

I was never a Weir fan, just because there was a certain smugness there that, for whatever reason, I didn't find charming, like I do when Shep or Rodney display such.

I thought they did a good job writing for Carter, and they show flashes with Teyla, but yeah, that's consistently a problem.

But I think part of it with Ronon is the need to work with what you have. Writers will always be constricted in what they can put on screen, by the range of the players.

[misskitten]

Edit And you know what's really funny? It seems to be a gathering of R/K shippers. Could it be they're now blaming Ronon for the fact that their ship sank? Still not gonna look...

Actually... from what I've seen, it seems to be gathering McKellers, not Dellers (why on earth would Dellers start going to the anti-Ronon thread... we love Ronon...)

[Pandora's_Box]

I was actually going to make that very same comment about Sheppard right after I finished posting my last reply.

That is the funny thing, isn't it?

But I still think there's an inherent difference between the warrior mentalities of Sheppard and Teyla and Ronon.

Sheppard is a soldier and with that comes a set of rules, laws, and disciplines. He doesn't fight because he has to, but because he chose to protect his country. Obviously it's expanded beyond that, but I would imagine that was his original mentality.

Teyla is a warrior out of necessity I would imagine. She is a leader of her people, proving that she is capable of compassion as well as violence, and I think it's a fascinating dichotomy.

Ronon is, oddly enough, both. A soldier by choice forced to fight for his life by the Wraith which leads me to believe that, by nature, he is more inclined towards violence than either of those 2 characters.

Where was I getting with this? Oh, right.

Sheppard and Teyla, by virtue of their natures, are ....required, for lack of a better word... to exhibit compassion or some degree of remorse after a kill. Ronon, maybe not so much. Isn't that easier to have to write?

[KindlyKeller]

An interesting thought.

Sheppard and Teyla took up arms to protect the ones and things they loved. They were fighting for something greater than their own needs and glory.

Ronon, though a soldier by choice (we think- he could have been drafted), spent seven years fighting for nothing but his own survival. So, he obviously has a greater detachment from violence than do Shep and Teyla.

What's interesting and different from them also is that Ronon seems to enjoy violence- the old Klingon archetype. Shep and Teyla often appear to abhor it. I'm not sure if that's simply because his time on the run necessitated it (i.e. there aren't a lot of joys in that kind of life, so he found joy in the kill) or for some other reason.

But that might be giving too much credit to the writers. Maybe he just likes killin' people.

Hmmm.